Dellrose

I'm still shopping for a C2 or early C3 and am of course petrified of birdcage rust. I'm well versed thanks to this forum on conventional ways to check for cage and frame rust. I've immediately passed on a couple cars that showed rust in the windshield area under a flashlight.
I've had a couple sellers balk at removing a kick panel to check the front mounts. The one fellow that removed a kick panel himself to allow me to give it a look was as aghast as I was regarding what we found.

So...I haven't found much via search regarding using a bore scope for this purpose. Has anybody tried to inspect for birdcage rust using one of these tools?

carriljc

Just because I'm curious I've been meaning to stick my borescope up from where the speaker sits..... but last time I removed the speaker I didn't have the borescope handy.... I did peak up there, as best as I could, and it does look doable to snake a borescope up there.....

Dellrose

I ordered a $40 bore scope off amazon today. I've got my pal's 1980 in my garage I'm trying to sell for him, so I'm going to give it a shot this weekend. If I get positive results, I'll post them in this thread. Hopefully, you can do the same and maybe we can help others along on this topic as well.

carriljc

Ok.... I'll try to get off my @ss and do something.... but no promises

doorgunner

It's going to be interesting and provide a good way to check for rust if the scope can be used.

leigh1322

I have one and IMHO the best place to use it would be to stick it under the dash with taking anything apart, and looking at the back / inside of the lower windshield corners. It's a double layer birdcage there, but if you see a lot of rust from water dripping thru, well you know what you are going to find on the other side. The outside of that lower w/s corner is a very common rot spot. The way it hides under the fender lip makes it very hard to see from the outside. The borescope may help some there too. If it hasn't been filled with several layers of body putty and windshield sealer like mine was! Mine had huge hidden slots there. And yet only a few flakes on the #2 body mount bolt, so was I surprised when the w/s came out!

Dellrose

Yeah, I think you’re right. The first place (and easiest to access) to check would be under the dash in the corners where leaky windshields cause havoc. If you find significant rust there, no need to scope the other areas, as you’re not likely to buy the car.

I think the scope will be easy to finagle behind the trim panels to photo the front body mounts. The rear of the cage, I’ve no clue until I get to experimenting.

ed427vette

And you can use it to see if there is a tank sticker on the tank as well.

carriljc

Ok. I went and removed the pasenger side kick panel and did a borescope inspection. I could only get it to about where the windshield lower corner attaches. It does give you an fairly good view of what shape your metal is in though. I tried spraying some Eastwood Internal frame coating but I did not want to make too bigh of a mess so I'll do it properly when my dash repair project gets going (eventually )
I suspect that removing the the padding around the windshield frame will give me access to inspect the internals of the frame. Hell, I'll even drill a 5/16" hole (if there is not one) and insert the borescope camera...... especially since I plan to do the Eastwood Internal frame coating anyway...... from what I remember when I removed & replaced my top header pad it should be a rather easy endeavor.
I will attach some pics as soon as I sort them.....

carriljc

Some pics. It appears that the lower edge of my birdcage, up to where the windshield frame would attach, is in fairly good shape. I will be coating with that Eastwood Internal frame coating when I do start working on the dash pad repair project.
Anyway, I was glad to see it hasn't gotten worse since last looked. Here are some pics.

carriljc

Dellrose

Yup! It works!

Dude…your car looks really solid. That body mount shot is about as pristine as I’ve seen.

carriljc

thanks.
I cleaned up and vacuumed the area .....I didn't want to get carried away with the Eastwood Internal frame coating so I was being careful while spraying with the wand..... i did not get it spread very well but some did run down to the bottom so I took a paint brush and smeared it around the bolt heads and the metal down there.... it's about the same puke-green color as that original paint.

Dellrose

Well….indeed you can take a picture of body mount bolts without removing interior panels. I’ve attached a shot of the drivers side #2 body mount snapped with a bore scope that I simply snaked around the kick panel. It’s a grainy picture, but the drivers side is a real mess. For comparison, I’ve also attached a picture of the passenger side mount shot the old fashioned way (which most sellers will not allow) of removing the kick panel.

So….a bore scope can be very useful when checking out a car you’re contemplating buying if the seller is reluctant to allow access to the trouble areas. Probably taking a video is better so you can grasp the camera orientation of what you’re looking at. The view seems much clearer in video mode on my cheap scope compared to the picture.

And…I’m gonna pull the add for the C3 I was trying to help my buddy out by selling it for him. The windshield was left leaking for too long….

Fuzzy borescope

The right way

doorgunner

Show him the video pic...let him decide on/accept a price from buyers.
A hand held bead blaster gun will remove all the rust any area the nozzle can squeeze into

doorgunner

Would a scope with a self contained light work better...I'm about to buy one at Amazon.

Dellrose

Probably so. I just bought the el cheapo $30 special off Amazon to experiment. It is clear when you are just poking around but becomes mush when you take a pic or hit video. Low light level as well. Ya get what ya pay for….

doorgunner

Hey...the cheapy is a good learning tool and can be useful in other ares where a flashlight will shine.
Now you can buy the next level with the light and maybe even with a directional camera.

Does your scope plug into your Iphone, etc?

The price really jumps up when the monitor is included with the snake camera!

Dellrose

Yeah, mine hooks to iPhone and is super easy to use.


$30 ain’t getting ya much, but I think it will help as my vette quest continues into year two.

1860army

Door gunner,

I have one like the link, it connects to your phone wirelessly and has a light... works good and if you have an IPad it really looks good on the bigger screen..


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